The Return
by Moontrance6
Summary: Running is all he had known for the past...how long has it been again? When Wally finally returns from the speed force, how have things changed? And Artemis is what now? Takes place after End Game
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is my first fanfiction on this account, so any support is great. Other than this, I have been Co-writing ****Young Justice Season Three: Uprising**** with Softballplayer363 and we will have chapter four of that out to you soon, or so we hope. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or anything famous, except my pet rock.**

**Run…Escape…Run…**

Those few words were the only words that Wally was able to mutter to himself the whole time that he was trapped in the speed force. While his mind wasn't able to form many words, it was always racing and lingered on one thing… one person that would keep him sane… his Artemis, and the only goal that his scrambled brain could muster was to return to her. While it was true that his mind was in pieces, he knew one thing… and that was if he could only just keep running, then he could escape and make it back to her; unfortunately the longer he was trapped into the speed force, the more it hurt.

The energy of the speed force was still attacking his body, and was slowly beating it to a pulp. His head throbbed, arms burned, and his legs ached as he continued his horrible trek into nothingness. Just as he had decided to give into the energy, an opening in the speed force had somehow appeared. Mustering every last bit of his possible energy, he threw himself through the opening and landed on the ice, his body sizzling. Laying face first, he sighed in relief as the ice provided at least a little comfort to his overheated body. Once the sizzling had come to a stop, he slowly managed to get into a sitting position. The starving and exhausted speedster, took in his surroundings and he realized that he was where it happened…but something had changed, for no longer did the reach boom tube occupy the spot in which he sat. Shrugging it off, he wobbly got to his feet before limping his way to civilization, almost 50 miles from the spot in which he had started. Upon entering the only gas station in the almost abandon town, Wally was shocked by the many looks of disgust and fright that were sent his way, and he even overheard a scared little girl ask her father,

"Daddy is that man a Zombie?"

-I can't look that bad…can I? - Wally asked himself as he walked towards the men's restroom. Making his way straight towards the mirror he jumped and almost fainted at the sight of himself.

"I guess it's the Wally dead know," he joked to himself as he looked his appearance over.

No longer did he look like the Wall-man, for the whole left side of his mask was gone and replaced with a third degree burn, he hadn't exactly noticed it before…but no longer did he have shoes for his feet were burned a charcoal black. His costume barely hung to his frame, for it was in rips and pieces and exposed varies other bruises and burns that covered his body.

"Artemis…is going to kill me" he muttered hoarsely to himself as he started to carefully wipe off some of the dried blood from his face.

After attempting to clean himself up, somewhat, he ventured back out into the store where he scared the daylights out of even more random people. Limping over to the counter, he let out a sigh.

"Do you have a phone that I can use?" he asked as he kept his "good side" towards the employee.

"Y…yes" the man replied fearfully as one of his shaking hands held out a cell phone to Wally.

Taking the phone, the speedster dialed a number that everyone on the team had to memorize, Dick's emergency number, as he listened to the dial tone, he prayed that his best friend would pick up but it was not meant to be. Cursing under his breath as he heard the beginning of the voice mail box, Wally decided to leave a message.

"Hey…its Wally…Wally West…Yeah I'm back now, so it would be nice if you could come pick me up." He said into the phone and hung up angrily as he started to get even stranger looks from some of the costumers.

"What?" He asked in a growl of annoyance because of all of the looks that were being sent his way, when suddenly a girl in a Flash t-shirt stepped up to him.

"You said your name was Wally…? Wally West?" She asked in confusion as she look at his tattered costume.

"Yes! My name is WALLY WEST! And I am KID FLASH!" Wally announced to the whole gas station population, getting agitated over the whole situation.

"That…That can't be possible…" The girl who was in her late teens said, "The Original Kid Flash died 5 years ago."

Upon hearing those words, the speedster dropped the phone and sunk to his knees in disbelief.

"5…5 years…?" He asked in complete disbelief as he stared at the ground.

"No…no can't be possible…I disappeared only yesterday" he said as he closed his eyes tightly wishing that this was just a nightmare and that he would wake up with Artemis in his arms, but upon opening his eyes…realization settled upon him that this was not some façade from his imagination but was indeed real life.

"I'm afraid it's true…its 2021…I am truly sorry" she said softly before leaving his side only for a moment and returning with a deli sandwich.

"Here," she said as she handed it to him," go to her…" she said softly before slipping out of the door.

Wally felt as if he had failed…he had left Artemis in pain for 5 years…how could he possibly confront her now? Now that it has been 5 years, half of him hoped that she had forgotten about him and had a nice family of her own know. Choking back tears he got to his feet and gave the employee back his phone before eating the sandwich that the strange girl had given him. With even that little amount of fuel in his body, he would be able to just make it to Mount Justice. Running out the door, he sprinted to the place that had served as his second home for all of those years, in just a few minutes he made it to the spot where it used to occupy. Looking around at the nice little park that occupied the area, he let out a cry of despair as he remember that had be destroyed along with himself, or so it seemed. Taking a moment to remember all of the good times that he had with the team, he turned on his heels and sprinted towards Gotham, knowing full well that if this plan didn't work then he was as good as dead. As soon as he saw the familiar surroundings of Gotham, he made straight for Artemis's old apartment. Upon arriving there, he was overjoyed when Paula opened the door only to see Wally leaning against the railing to support himself for he knew that he would crash any moment now.

"Hi…it's been a long time… and I promise to explain everything later." He said quickly as he pushed past her and laid down on the couch, moaning in pain.

Suddenly he heard a voice from the kitchen, "Mom what was that?" The voiced asked as she walked out of the kitchen and gasped at the sight of the half dead speedster that occupied her mother's sofa.

Much to Wally's disappointment it wasn't Artemis…It was Jade.

"You can kill me later" Wally half joked as he closed his eyes and wanted nothing more than for sleep to claim him.

"While that is very tempting, I'm not going to make my sister attend your funeral twice," She muttered as Roy walked in with a now 6 year old Lian.

"Mommy…who is that..?" asked a fearful Lian as she look at Wally in his current condition.

"That's your uncle Wally" Roy replied quickly as Jade shot him a look.

"I'll take care of things form here," Roy said as he carefully picked up Wally and carried him out of the apartment.

Running as fast as his normal human legs could possibly go, Roy made for the nearest Zeta Tube. Stepping out of the Zeta Tube, now in the Watch Tower, he was greeted cheerfully but the greetings were cut short at the gruesome site of the speedster that lay in the archer's arms. Roy rushed Wally to the infirmary where he was put onto the table only to be surrounded by senior members(Batman, Black Canary, etc..), hooked up to IVS are prepped for surgery.

**END NOTE: Surgery huh? Oh no poor Wall-man! Please review any criticism welcomed and appreciated. Will update in the next few days.**

**Until then stay whelmed,**

**-MOONTRANCE6**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: So this is chapter 2! Can't believe that I actually got it typed out so quickly… I'm going to go ahead and apologize for the feels that will lie with this chapter. As last time I will try to keep updating at least every other day, if possible. Also check out ****Young Justice Season Three: Uprising ****on Softballplayer363's account if you are interested in some of more of my writings.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or anything famous, except my pet rock.**

**Bleak is how the outcome looked.**

Staring at the blank walls that lie outside the infirmary room in which Wally was undergoing major surgery. Sighing, Roy looked down at the smart phone which sat in the palm of his hand. Having called almost everyone he could think of, Roy stared down at the name on his phone, one last name that he had been hesitant to call…Artemis. Just like the rest of the team, Artemis had eventually accepted Wally's fate and had moved on with her life. To be honest, Roy was afraid that she wouldn't come at all, and that wouldn't help Wally's condition in the least bit. Taking a deep breath, he dialed her number.

"Roy? What do you want?" She asked upon answering the phone as she tried to keep how annoyed she really was out of her voice.

"What? No hello to your brother-in-law?" He asked with a nervous laugh as he debated on how to break the news to her.

"Just because my sister married you doesn't mean…" Artemis started before being interrupted by Roy.

"Listen, I just thought that you should know what is going on," He said softly into the phone, a tone that took even him aback.

She paused before saying, "ok, and go on."

"It's Wally…" He started before it was Artemis's turn to interrupt him.

"Roy…it's been 5 years…" The archer said softly a pain of hurt still evident in her voice, "You have to let him go…" She finished the last part with tears threatening to over flow her eyes.

"If you would let me finish…" He muttered into the phone, "Wally is alive! But I am not going to argue on the phone with you all day, so if you are even the least bit curious, then come up to the Watch Tower."

And with that last remark, he hung up the phone leaving Artemis in complete shock. Soon, the small hallway outside of the operating room was filled with members of the league, all of whom were fretting over Wally in their own ways. Dick, who still had a habit of wearing sunglass, was ordering absurd amounts of food for his best friend and only stopped to look at a few of the pictures that they had taken together over the years. Zatanna was sitting by herself and was muttering spells under her breath, looking up every once in a while to make sure that Dick was ok. M'gann was clinging onto Conner, who was death gripping a chair in order to keep control some of his anger at himself. Barry was pacing quickly down the hallway mumbling to himself, and Bart was guiltily looking down at his, Wally's, Kid Flash costume. And Artemis was nowhere to be seen. For any outside person looking in to this situation, they would be labeled an odd bunch that much is for sure.

Inside the small operation room, it was even more chaotic. For Batman was yelling out orders as Captain Atom was trying to treat some of the more severe burns. Black Canary was stitching up his chest for they had just performed a Catheter Aspiration and a tube insertion in order to help stabilize his punctured lung and Red Tornado was running diagnoses on the rest of his internal organs. When the group finally stepped back, they weren't even done with him yet, not even close… While the third degree burn on his face had been taken care of and wrapped properly, there were some other complications that had to be fixed. Such as a fracture in his backbone and left elbow, but for now he was stable and the group was exhausted, well not Red Tornado. Before exiting, Batman looked back over the notes that they had taken and the supposed "miracle formula" which they use to help the skin repair itself after a server burn.

As soon as Barry spotted Black Canary exit the room, he clung himself onto her in a much needed hug.

"How is he?!" Barry asked in a panic as he hugged her tightly.

"He'll live, Barry but we have more work to do tomorrow" She replied tiredly as she pried herself free from the over dramatic speedster and made her way towards her room for some well-deserved shut eye.

As of late, only one visitor is permitted at a time to visit Wally as long as Red Tornado is present in the room. Dick was the first of the team to go in and he took a seat right next to the bed.

"Hey Wally…" He said softly as he looked at his best friend's unconscious form.

"I know that when you wake up…everything is going to be different, and it's going to be hard for you…but I'll be there for you just like old times. So just do me a favor and stay WHELMED," Dick said as he thought about how much everything has changed in the 5 years that have passed since his friend has existed on this world.

One by one all of his friends and teammates came into visit him…well all except for Artemis, whom had yet to show her face. Roy was getting pissed off for he knew that Wally would need her the most when he awoke and yet she wouldn't even show up. Just as he pulled out his phone to give the blonde an ear full, she came around the corner.

"Glad to see that you could finally make it," Roy spat at her as she gave him a glare.

"Well I'm sorry that I couldn't just drop everything and leave the moment you told me, I was a little busy…" the blonde snapped back.

"Just…Just don't break his heart…" Roy said as his voice soften and he sent a sad look the fellow archer's way.

Shrugging him off, Artemis opened the door and walked inside to see Wally after all of these years of hurt and misery.

**END NOTE: Now that Artemis is here, some things will be cleared up. Don't you just love Roy looking after Wally like and older brother? I do, that's why I wrote it that way. I hope to have the next chapter up hopefully by tomorrow, but who knows maybe I'll be ambitious and write it today. Until then please review, any criticism welcomed and appreciated.**

**Stay Whelmed,**

**-MOONTRANCE6**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Chapter 3 is up and at you! Fan girls beware, it was hard even for me to write this chapter, and when this was proof read, the reader wanted to kill me. Thank you so much for all of the support that I am getting, it means the world to get feedback, so keep it coming. Some people have asked about Chalant being in the story as for now, you'll have to wait and see *grins mischievously *. Also check out ****Young Justice Season Three: Uprising ****on Softballplayer363's account if you are interested in some of more of my writings.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or anything famous, except my pet rock. He is fabulous.**

**Broken is the heart, but not the will. **

The blonde almost had a heart attack when her eyes first settled on the red head that she used to be so close to. Suddenly, she was hit with a wave of guilt of what she would eventually have to tell to the returned speedster. Making her way over to the still unconscious Wally, she unconsciously took off her wedding ring and slipped it into her pocket as she took the seat next to the hospital bed and took his burnt hand in her own. Sitting there, she didn't even notice Red Tornado standing quietly in the corner of the room that was not occupied with any medical equipment, for her eyes were locked on the man that she once loved so much that she quit her hero life for. Seconds soon became minutes and minutes became hours, just as she got up to leave, she stopped when she heard him stir.

"…Artemis," He choked out as salty tears of relied began to run down his face.

"Shh… I'm here," She said softly as she slid back into the seat she had just occupied.

Feelings for Wally began to resurface as she stared into those always green, memorizing eyes. Truly she wished she had turned down the proposal for she felt as if she was abandoning him in a time of need, much like her sister did to her.

"I'm… I'm sorry," He said quietly, shocking the blonde out of her train of thought.

Artemis was taken aback by his sincerity. The archer was confused for she knew that it wasn't Wally's fault that he was stolen from her, and no matter how many times she had cried out during the night cursing his name for being too heroic would she blame him for what had happened.

As if Wally could read her thoughts, "For leaving you," He said softly as he looked up at the blonde that he struggled 5 years to get back to.

Artemis had promised herself that she wouldn't cry…at least not in front of Wally, but she couldn't hold it in and all of those lonely nights crept up on her as she started to cry her eyes out. Wally sat up as best as he could on his own and leaned over, wrapping Artemis in a very painful, one armed hug.

"Its… ok," He said softly, his voice laced with pain at the pure effort of keeping himself up.

Artemis quickly realized that he was in pain and she laid him back down and kept her eyes on the on speedster until she grew tired and fell asleep there in the chair beside her speedster. No matter how hard Wally tried, he just couldn't escape to the sweet reverie of sleep. After a while, Red Tornado noticed this and gave him a strong dose of morphine and he was knocked out quickly. Red Tornado, being the troll that no one really knew him to be, picked up Artemis out of the chair and laid her down gently in the bed with Wally and then skipped back into his corner like a little school girl who saw a cute boy.

"Ha Ha silly humans and their petty boundaries," He commented to himself in the usual monotone voice.

Even though the Morphine was enough to put him to sleep, unfortunately it wasn't enough to keep him in that state for it wasn't but a few hours later that he was awakened by a slap to the right side of his face and a pissed off archer.

"HOW DARE YOU PUT ME IN BED WITH YOU!" Artemis yelled as Wally looked at her like she was an elephant walking down Main Street.

"You seriously think I have the strength right now to pick you up?" He asked her with a strange look that was a cross between humor, anger, and sadness.

"Well then who else would put me in bed with you?" She asked with a matter of fact kind of tone.

"There isn't a right answer, is there?" He asked her with a sad look

She got up and turned away from him so quickly that if he didn't know better he would accuse her of being a speedster. He no longer had the heart to look at her so he turned his head to look at the many various medical instruments. Her reaction to his whole being proved to him what he told himself was not true, she had found someone else.

"I hope he treats you well," Wally muttered just loud enough for her to hear, keeping his back to her as he fought to keep his emotions in check.

"He…he does," She replied in little more than a whisper as she stood there rooted in her place.

"So will you at least give me the name of the man to whom I am loosing you to," He asked as he tried to choke out the sentence through the tears that were running down his face at a constant pace.

"Trevor… his name is Trevor," Artemis replied awkwardly as she started to walk towards the door, only to freeze to add "And Wally… Forget about me…you deserve someone a lot better," She finished before leaving the room all together.

With those words, Wallace's heart shattered, not just broke, shattered. He kept crying, all through the rest of the day, though surgery, and even recovery. He did not cry because of the pain of his injuries, but for the pain in his chest that hurt much more than a broken arm or even a concussion. Every day after that event, Dick was glued to his side and was afraid to even look away in fear of his best friend disappearing again but this time by his own doing. No one noticed the lurking red figure standing in the corner witnessing the ongoing the events.

**END NOTE: Ah I feel sooooooooo bad for Wallace! Like how can I be so cruel and take away his one love? Hopefully there will be a happy ending…but who knows? And Red Tornado is definitely not out of character, or my embodiment. I will update A.S.A.P. Until then please review, any criticism welcomed and appreciated.**

**Stay Whelmed,**

**-MOONTRANCE6**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I know that I didn't get chapter 4 posted yesterday, but I was busy so here it is today! Oh and a note that you might get chapter 5 tomorrow, but either way I won't be able to post at least until Saturday and if I can't post Saturday then we are looking at two weeks from today because I will be out of town and won't have access to my computer. As always comments are welcomed, and so are suggestions.**

** Nightmares follow one's past.**

Once Wally's surgeries were finally complete and after several agonizing months of physical therapy, he was official released to do as he pleased. As he packed his bags and said his good byes to his teammates and friends, he was offered a spot on the Justice League.

"We could always use more speed," Superman had informed him and was shocked at Wally's answer.

This is what Wally had always wanted, wasn't it? To be in the league and finally be treated as an equal by the top dogs but it didn't feel right to take this opportunity away from Bart and besides it wouldn't be right without…her.

"I'm flattered by the offer, really I am, but right now I just want to go back to college…get my life back into order," He said with a smile as he stepped into the zeta tube.

With that, Wally had once again moved back to California and started to attend Stanford once again, but this time living on campus and without Artemis. Artemis… she still haunted his every thought. Every day he would attend class, but instead of listening to the professor, he was reminded of her…and every memory that they had together on this cursed campus. Physically, Wally was now 100% and faster than he was before the incident, but emotionally… he was convinced that he wasn't ever going to recover. In fact, most nights he laid awake staring at the celling hoping that Artemis would come running into the room and would jump into his arms. But all dreams were crushed when he received a phone call from his best friend.

"Hey what's up?" The speedster asked as he answered his phone.

"I know this is sudden, but I just found out something and I didn't want you to hear about it from anyone else," Dick said as concern raised in his voice.

"Spit it out," Wally said impatiently as he tapped his foot on the other end of the phone.

"It's… well its Artemis… she's getting married," Dick replied almost hesitantly.

"Oh…well…I'm… I'm glad she's…happy," Wally said coldly with a sigh.

"Hey… are you going to be ok?" Dick asked, his voice laced with concern for the speedster.

"…yeah, I'll be fine," Wally choked out as he tried to hold back his feelings for the archer.

"Ok…well I have a plan, but we'll talk about tomorrow at the game, see you then," Dick said as he immediately regretted telling him.

Hanging up the phone, Wally sat down on his couch and stared at the blank TV that occupied his line of sight as all of those past memories that he had been trying so hard to suppress came rushing back upon him. All he could think about was her…the girl that managed to rip his heart to shreds every day without being present… the girl who stood out around all others… the girl who came from one of the worst possible back grounds possible but was one of the most kind hearted people he had ever met, once you got passed her attitude,… the girl who used to be as much as in love with him as he was with her… his Spitfire…Artemis.

"GOD DAMN IT!" He yelled with a sudden anger that caused him to get up and punch a hole through the wall, but he didn't stop there. Soon the couch, TV, refrigerator, and everything else he had in his small dorm room had been tossed to the complete opposite side of the room from where it once stood.

Finally managing to settle down a little bit, he sat down in the middle of the floor, where the couch once stood, and hugged his knees to his chest like a frightened child. Wally wasn't ready to admit that Artemis had moved on to leave him in the dust and quite frankly, he didn't have the heart too. Truth be told, he didn't sleep a wink that night, instead he stayed in the position staring blankly at the wall, knowing that the moment his eyes shut that they would be filled with her image. Sitting there until the early hours of the morning, he only got up to get dressed because Dick had bought him tickets to the Heat and Pacers game in Miami. After tugging on a, hopefully, clean Heat shirt and a pair of jeans, Wally left campus where he was met with the friendly sight of his raven haired friend who currently had his face in his phone. Running up to him, Wally couldn't help but grin when he snatched the phone out of Dick's hands.

"So who are you texting?" Wally teased as he managed to keep the phone out of Dick's hands long enough to read some of the conversation.

"Oh… wait a second...you were texting Zatanna! Dick, you dog," Wally teased as he handed the former boy wonder his phone back.

"Just get in the zeta tube," Dick muttered with an embarrassed look before shoving Wally through and following closely behind.

Walking into the Heat's court with his best friend, Wally couldn't help but smile. Nothing could possibly ruin this day for the speedster; court side ticketed to his favorite basketball team, all you can eat food, and was with the one person that he still trusted. As the teams were warming up, Dick explained the plan that he had contrived last night: Operation Spitfire.

"So the wedding is June 20th at 3:00 P.M., on Tunnels Beach in Kauai, Hawaii," Dick informed, "And everyone on the team was invited… except for you…"

"Oh geeze thanks for reminding me," Wally growled.

" I wasn't done," Dick said with a smirk, " As I was saying, you are going to object to their marriage, announce your undying love for her, and then sweep her right off of her feet right in front of everyone," He finished.

"Oh that's a good plan and all, but there is just one problem… she doesn't love me," The red head replied sadly as he looked at his feet.

"Come on man seriously! No one can resist the Wall-man!" Dick exclaimed with a laugh.

"Well that is true…" Wally said with a grin, "Ok… I'll go for it."

They finished the plan just in time for the tip off in which the Heat won as always. As the teams went in for half time the score was 50-35, the Heat was up. Smiling, Wally relaxed in his seat with what must have been his 5th hotdog; when all of the half time fun started to go on, first was the kiss cam and he almost threw the precious hot dog, when he saw himself and Dick on the cam.

Standing up in protest Dick yelled, "I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!"

To which Wally muttered, "Dog…" before taking offense in what Dick had said, "Hey! Are you saying that I'm not kissable?" Wally accused with a sad look before laughing at the embarrassed look that crossed his best friend's face.

"Well… no that's… you're never going to let me live this down are you?" The usual troll asked it felt weird for someone to have dirt on him.

"Never in a million years," Wally replied as he grabbed his side from laughing so hard, he felt a lot better since joining Dick for the game…he didn't even know how long it had been since he could think of something else.

The game ended up being extremely intense and ended up with the heat winning 102-100 over the Pacers. Not only had his team won, but now he had one last chance of getting Artemis back…one last chance to save her… one last chance to save himself.

**End note: YES WALLACE GO GET YOUR GIRL! On another note, again I will not be able to post the next chapter for a little while, but I promise that when I do, I will finish the story either in chapter 5 or 6. Until then, your support and opinions are more than welcomed!**

**Stay Whelmed,**

**-Moontrance6**


End file.
